Lost half my tree! Anyway to repair the damaged spots and save it?

So.... heavy winds took out three of the six large limbs of a tree in my frontyard.

5 hours later.... should take 5 more to clear the rest.

Now... Iím left with half a tree that has ALOT of exposed surface area.

My old neighbors "pruned" it to fix their view and I think doing so made a little crevice in the tree for water to accumulate. Going to guess that was the main problem and why i have a couple 100lbs of wood in my front yard right now! The spot where the limbs broke off looked waterlogged and the part at the lower section of the limbs looked fine.

The crevice is still there... is there a puddy or salve I can use to fill the crevice and also to apply to the exposed areas of the tree? I'd rather not chop it down but if the other limbs go... so will my roof.

Any input is appreciated! I have no clue what I'm doing when it comes to yard/garden work.

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If half the tree is gone you may be best remove the whole tree. With half gone the tree if off balance since the weight of gone tree is not there to balance it, there is a risk of the rest of the tree to be blown over or up rooted. You may do some pruning on the good side to reduce the weight, or could run cables tied back to keep it from be blown over. There is sprays and paints to cover exposed internals of broke limbs. You may need to contact a arborist(sp) and get there advice on what to do with the tree.

If the tree has lost most of half its canopy, that does not mean that it will die. The tree may die from complications of its wounds such as insect infestation or disease using the fresh wounds as routes into the tree.

Most likely the tree will live and begin to regrow. The exposed areas of the tree stem will be warmed by the sun which will stimulate new growth. The new growth will emerge once the weather warms up again after winter. The new growth will be straight up without much side shoots at first. It could take 10 to 15 years to get back to a symetrical shape.

If you are patient, willing to wait and understand the that the rest of the tree could come down in another storm which makes the tree a potential safety hazard for the rest of its life, risk insect infestation or a disease. Any of these could kill the tree.

After paying attention to it the tree looks like it grew too far OUT instead of up.

That is the nature of Dogwood trees. They don't grow very fast so maintainence pruning is minimal. If they are in the right conditions they will grow with more of a spreading habbit rather than upright. This is desirable becasue it looks nice but the spreading limbs need to be pruned (thinned or shortened) to reduce the canopy width and releive stress from the limb and avoid damage